


West Coast Enhanced (Avengers)

by Blue_Hood



Series: Unity [1]
Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 17:05:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17811986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Hood/pseuds/Blue_Hood
Summary: Hank Pym hated to admit he was wrong.





	West Coast Enhanced (Avengers)

Hank Pym hated to admit he was wrong. Did anyone like to admit that? Dr. Pym remembered quite clearly when a blonde man, practically a teenager, showed up in a sleek jet over his backyard. The man, dressed casually in a leather jacket and jeans, greeted them "Hello Dr. Henry Pym, Ms. Hope van Dyne, Mr. Scott Lang. My name is John Allerdyce." He lifted one hand, subtly flicking his wrist to trigger the hidden flamethrower. Holding the ball of fire only long enough to finish his introduction "I also go by Pyro. I need to show you a few things," he lifted his shoulder bag, "files before I explain why I'm here. Needless to say, I know what your engineer's job really is. May I come in?"

Hope said "Yes, of course." John's jet had flown off as soon as his feet hit the ground. He was overall very polite, professionalism overriding Hank's initial assessment of him as a teenager.

Scott, of course, had to ask as they were walking inside "How'd you make fire appear like that?"

John answered by pulling up his sleeve "Flamethrower, a flick of the wrist and we have fire. I can't make fire with my mind but this is close enough." As the trio sat down, John stayed standing "Okay, I have to ask because I don't know if I should stand on ceremony here. What would you like me to call you?"

"You can call me Scott."

"Hope is fine. Do you prefer Pyro?"

John nodded "You can call me John, or Pyro since that's my mutant name so long as you stick to one."

Scott said "Okay, I'll call you John then."

"You can sit down." When he did so immediately, Hank and Hope both realized he'd been waiting for permission. "Call me Hank. Can I see the files you brought for us?"

John opened his messenger bag on his lap, withdrawing two files. Passing the files to Scott, he began his presentation "These are SHIELD's files on Howard and Tony Stark respectively. These hard copies include everything from their database on the two. Well, to be honest, the files are our overview. I think there might be a flash drive taped inside or I can give you access on a tablet if you really want every Stark-related SHIELD record, which would include contracts. There are two major points of interest in my opinion. First, Tony's personality profile as written by Agent Natasha Romanoff, a turncoat Black Widow. The assessment was conducted while Tony was suffering heavy metal poisoning from the palladium in his Arc Reactor. Impaired judgment, depression and insomnia are just a few symptoms of such heavy metal poisoning. Furthermore Agent Romanoff pushed Stark into reckless behavior, Agent Philip Coulson held Stark under unlawful house arrest. Even Director Nicholas Fury joined in the fun of manipulating the Hell out of a dying man. If you'll recall, the Hammer/Vanko disaster came soon after Stark's 40th bash. Y'know what SHIELD's manipulations brought about? Starkanium, a new element Tony synthesizes from an atomic model Howard hid in a Stark Expo model sitting behind him in a promo reel. Knowing the conditions Tony was living under, what do you think of Agent Romanoff's report? I think one word discredits the whole thing without thinking about the circumstances."

Scott asked "What word?"

"Textbook, she wrote something about textbook narcissism. I know from a battle with depression I had after my mother's death-" He took a moment to collect himself, "Textbook isn't a word used by psychologists. Psychology is such a new, soft science that few rules exist with the rigidness needed for textbook disorders. Moving on, I'd like you to look at Howard's file. Look at reports written by agents he worked with, see how they regarded a so-called founder then name three times you personally witnessed him pull rank as a founder. Did he ever demonstrate that sort of power? I think the report on your confrontation speaks volumes, given the context of SHIELD's relationship with Howard."

Hank closed the files, "What do you want? I know you didn't come all this way to show me I was wrong about Starks."

John smiled "Actually, I did. I know a thing or two about working with people you despise. You and Tony might need to work together. He might need you to save him from Fury's Avengers Initiative. Romanoff and Fury's little game made Stark think he owes them, possibly his life and that's definitely the idea."

"Avengers," muttered Hank.

"Yeah. Part of making him think he's got something to prove, that he doesn't deserve the good they've done for him, was letting him browse a file marked Avengers Initiative, just so Fury could swagger in, snatch it away and put Widow's assessment in his hands. Hence debt through depreciation, he needs saving. The world will need saving and its heroes need to get on the same page. SHIELD, or no, not SHIELD, that agency is the Men In Black lovechild of America's intelligence agencies, counter-terrorism on steroids in a deep, dark alley. Ok, I just distracted myself. SHIELD as a problem results from Fury being a drama king while trying to hold all the cards so he can play the badass superspy, forgetting subtlety is key to spy work. The agency is mostly presenting itself wrong when it deigns to appear, following Fury by example. Fury's ego and Carter's before him have made Hydra's survival child's play. Howard Stark's work and will were stolen by SHIELD, his murder and that of Maria covered up. Peggy Carter was promised more power, she took SHIELD global and saved Stark funding in one fell swoop. That's in Howard's file, his real coroner's report to be specific I think." The trio looked in the file.

Hank said "You want me to team up with Tony Stark to stop Hydra and expose SHIELD's bad deeds in one fell swoop."

"I think you're the least likely to push Tony over the edge and most likely to save him. I can give you all the intel, you take what you will to Tony and together do as you just said. Stress can break a man, Howard was just a man. Peggy Carter used him as a scapegoat in his own murder. How is Tony supposed to view SHIELD knowing his father, who he couldn't say two words to without fighting and who everyone speaks so highly of, knowing SHIELD is another part of a great man's legacy? The way people talk, Tony knows he'll never stack up just like he never stacked up to Captain America in his father's eyes. You hated Howard, re-evaluate all you will but you probably won't reach the point where he's the perfect man. I can't release the Intel I have. That'd be overkill and good agents would get burned, families would be leveraged. I don't even have a basis for going public because they're clandestine."

John sighed and ran a hand over his face "Start building Tony up by telling him the truth about Howard Stark the man. Let his friends, including his AI, know about Peggy Carter covering up Howard's murder for the good of herself." A smile slowly formed as he corrected "I mean fascism, er socialism, or SHIELD." He snapped his fingers "I meant the good of SHIELD's dictatorship, I think. Anyway, to give you access to all my intel, which is basically a copy of SHIELD's database reorganized. I need to scan you and get a voice sample."

John pulled out a tablet, tapped a few buttons and moved to stand behind Hank "Handprint, both of 'em." Standing beside Hope, he held up the tablet "Look here." When Hank smiled, John frowned "No good. It's not a picture, guess I shoulda mentioned it's another scan. Y'know those masks in Mission Impossible that perfectly mimic faces? That's the kind of sci-fi I wouldn't put past Peggy Carter's SHIELD. OK so just look at me this time. Everyone expects to smile for a camera, just looking without making a face makes it harder to beat the lock." He got his scan. "Now voice set your password and the tablet's yours. Keep the files too, they were printed for you. If you'll excuse me." He set the tablet on Howard Stark's file, grabbed his messenger bag and walked out the front door.

Hank Pym hated to admit he was wrong. Who doesn't? A man barely out of his teens forced Hank to admit he was wrong about everything, mostly Starks.

**Author's Note:**

> In this timeline, Scott still believes that his bosses would've bought their way out of trouble so he posts his evidence online and quits. Hank hears about the incident and recruits Scott, putting his lawyers to defend him from the legal repercussions. Clearly Scott isn't bad like Darren Cross, his problem is the opposite in fact. This eliminates Scott's prison stay and makes him Hank's caregiver, his assistant and nurse. I can't decide how the early recruitment interferes with Darren's plan. The way I see it either Scott's better trained or Darren's caught sooner.  
> Maggie still breaks up with him, fearing the next time he does the right thing despite the law. With Scott not in prison, he can take Cassie when Maggie and Paxton have romantic plans. The main problem between Paxton and Scott becomes how Scott got away with his crimes because of money. His bosses still got busted in the investigation following Scott's stunt, the money was returned and Scott moved in with Hank.


End file.
